A retired University of Minnesota-Duluth professor known for his conspiracy theories on John F. Kennedy's assassination, the 9/11 attacks and the Paul Wellstone plane crash has found himself in the news again -- this time for claiming the U.S. government was involved in the Newtown, Conn., school shootings.

In his online writings, James Fetzer cites chief among his credentials his ties to UMD, a fact lamented by at least one professor at another university.

Fetzer, also an author and former Marine Corps officer, claims in an online journal that Israeli Mossad death squads and the U.S. government might have been behind the school shootings in Connecticut. At the end of his piece, Fetzer describes himself as an emeritus professor at UMD, and he uses his UMD e-mail address as his contact.

UMD officials say Fetzer has the right to express his views -- but he also has the responsibility to make clear he's not speaking for the university.

Other retired UMD faculty members have been identified as emeriti when writing opinion pieces in the pages of the News Tribune, including physician Robert Goldish and American Indian studies professor Robert Powless.

Fetzer's Newtown conspiracy theory earned him a mention by writer Michael Moynihan in the online magazine "Daily Beast," an article titled: "Newtown Conspiracy Theories: Obama, Iran, and Other Culprits." Beneath that, a secondary headline reads: "The government was behind the school massacre. Wait, it was Obama,
in a ruse to take our guns away. No, it was Iran! Israel! Batman! Michael Moynihan on the paranoid wing's 'real truth' about Sandy Hook."

Fetzer writes in his online column, published on "Press TV and "Veterans Today": "The Sandy Hook massacre appears to have been a psy op intended to strike fear in the hearts of Americans by the sheer brutality of the massacre, where the killing of children is a signature of terror ops conducted by agents of Israel."

The act, Fetzer said in an interview with the News Tribune, "is part of an escalating series of covert operations intended to create hysteria in the American people in order to support gun control legislation that completely subverts the Second Amendment."

Fetzer lists his UMD e-mail address as the way for readers to contact him, which was granted to him as part of his retirement package. He says he doesn't speak for UMD and that UMD hasn't suggested he refrain from connecting himself to the university.

"There is something called freedom of research, freedom of inquiry," he said, "which the University of Minnesota has respected. I can't imagine why any university would want to discourage its faculty from exercising their independent thought and critical reasoning ability."

Faculty, including faculty emeriti, are protected by the Regents Policy on Academic Freedom and Responsibility, according to Andrea Schokker, executive vice chancellor of academic affairs at UMD. The policy protects the freedom of creative expression and to speak or write on matters of public interest without institutional discipline or restraint. That comes with the responsibility to make it clear that one isn't speaking for the institution, she said.

But to the average person who reads the Fetzer piece, it appears Fetzer represents UMD, said Donna Halper, an associate professor of communication at Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass. Fetzer identifies himself as a UMD professor emeritus and notes his faculty page on UMD's website.

"For a professor to be spreading stereotypes under the guise of academic freedom is profoundly disappointing," said Halper, whose earlier career in radio led her to Duluth several times. She found Duluth to be tolerant and compassionate, she said, and she was surprised to read Fetzer's work, which she classified as a "fringe view."

"I'm not saying he doesn't have the right to speak, but ... when it comes from a professor, it makes me wonder: What did he teach his students?" asked Halper, who teaches courses on philosophy and communication ethics. "Here you have someone who is allegedly an educated person spreading such uneducated opinions in the name of Duluth. That's outrageous."

Fetzer, of Oregon, Wis., and a professor of philosophy, spent 35 years teaching at universities, 19 of those years at UMD. He was awarded a McKnight Professorship from the University of Minnesota in 1996, which included a $100,000 research grant. He retired from UMD in 2006.

He has an Internet radio show, has written more than two dozen books and has become a well-known voice among those who claim that Kennedy was assassinated by his own government. He also theorizes that the U.S. government was involved in the Wellstone plane crash and the 9/11 attacks.

As a philosopher, Fetzer said, he cares about the truth, and his scientific research has revealed that "the government lies to us."

If there's an incredibly batshit crazy story out there, we can always count on you to help spread it around.

I haven't "spread it around." This is the first I mentioned of it, due to the thread title in the same vein, and I have not claimed it as true either. You really need to read better. The two other shooters is fishier. I heard the original sound footage from police and the kid's testimony. There's more than one involved.

You're just scared you don't have a case for seizing our guns and turning us into serfs.

Kotter: "You are lucky I'm truly not the vindictive or psycho type...I'd be careful from now on, and I'd just back the hell off if I were you....otherwise, the Mizzou "extension office" life might get exciting"

I haven't "spread it around." This is the first I mentioned of it, due to the thread title in the same vein, and I have not claimed it as true either. You really need to read better. The two other shooters is fishier. I heard the original sound footage from police and the kid's testimony. There's more than one involved.

You spread it here. And I didn't say you claimed it as true. But for someone to post such absurd horseshit without saying, "Hey, look at this horseshit that the nutbags are saying" indicates that you think it might be a reasonable posibility. Otherwise why post it? Why is it worthy of discussing?

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Quote:

Reporter: "I guess the question is: Why should Americans trust you when you accuse the information they receive as being fake, when you're providing information that is not accurate?"

TRUMP: "Well, I was given that information. I was, actually, I've seen that information around.

Actually all it takes is a drugged up patsy.....look at the Batman shooter. Dude was completely drugged out of his mind.

Yeah, that's all. SImple as that. A drugged-up patsy trained to carry out a specific and precise mission involving a murder of his mother, driving to another place, murdering some more people, then killing himself before capture. You are truly a ****ing moron.

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Quote:

Reporter: "I guess the question is: Why should Americans trust you when you accuse the information they receive as being fake, when you're providing information that is not accurate?"

TRUMP: "Well, I was given that information. I was, actually, I've seen that information around.

Have you ever witnessed someone having an anxiety attack? This looks just like one.

Bullshit, that's 100% acting. He was joking around and laughing just seconds right before he started talking. I dont buy anxiety attack for one second...used to date someone who had anxiety attacks a lot.

Trying to spin the reaction of a GRIEVING FATHER after his 6 year old daughter was murdered in cold blood as some sort of Obama conspiracy?

Disgusting. Simply put.

You know what else is disgusting? 9/11 being set up by our own federal govt in order to invade middle eastern countries for gold, oil, and opium. And in the process killing many innocent women, children, families, as well as thousands of our own soliders in the name of "war on terrorism".

To say our own govt would NEVER set up these types of events is downright laughable. Yeah...it's a bunch of children that got shot up...it's the word "children" that makes it more gruesome and horrifying, but it doesn't change anything that happened...whether it was children or adults, it was still a mass shooting....an event that is being used as a pretext for complete gun control/confescation from our own govt.

Yeah, that's all. SImple as that. A drugged-up patsy trained to carry out a specific and precise mission involving a murder of his mother, driving to another place, murdering some more people, then killing himself before capture. You are truly a ****ing moron.

Dude you or I or anyone on this board could very well just walk into a mall or school or something with a semi-auto rifle and just start firing off rounds and kill a bunch of people. The reason why we don't is because it's wrong and sickening to do something like that. We have morals. It takes a monster, or some drugged up raging lunatic under some kind of pshycotropic drugs to carry out something horrible like this. Look at the Batman shooter in court. He's completely drugged out of his mind and you can tell he has no ****ing clue as to what's going on.

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Thanks, Trump for the civics lesson. We are learning so much about impeachment, the 25th Amendment, order of succession, nepotism, separation of powers, 1st Amendment, obstruction of justice, the emoluments clause, Logan Act, conflicts of interest, collusion, sanctions, oligarchs, money laundering and so much more.

Como I will say one thing you're so ****ing stupid you have no idea how ****ing stupid you are

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoMoChief

You know what else is disgusting? 9/11 being set up by our own federal govt in order to invade middle eastern countries for gold, oil, and opium. And in the process killing many innocent women, children, families, as well as thousands of our own soliders in the name of "war on terrorism".

To say our own govt would NEVER set up these types of events is downright laughable. Yeah...it's a bunch of children that got shot up...it's the word "children" that makes it more gruesome and horrifying, but it doesn't change anything that happened...whether it was children or adults, it was still a mass shooting....an event that is being used as a pretext for complete gun control/confescation from our own govt.

__________________
Thanks, Trump for the civics lesson. We are learning so much about impeachment, the 25th Amendment, order of succession, nepotism, separation of powers, 1st Amendment, obstruction of justice, the emoluments clause, Logan Act, conflicts of interest, collusion, sanctions, oligarchs, money laundering and so much more.

I certainly don't want to believe this crap. But there are a lot of discrepancies here, just like the Colorado shooting. At first they reported that the AR was in the vehicle, and that nothing but pistols were found inside. There were reports of the cops pursuing a second suspect into the woods, and even a couple of the kids said something about another man being there. I realize that there is mass confusion in a situation like this, and everybody from witnesses to first responders is going to be traumatized.

However, if full confiscation is our government's goal, as twats like Feinswine have indicated, how better to do it than horrifying the dumber-by-the-minute public with incidents like this? Some highly-trained spook befriends this kid and convinces him to play along - afterward, the spook escapes, the government controls the media, the crime scene and the kid's computer, initial discrepancies are ignored/forgotten, and dissenting opinions are silenced or dismissed as paranoid fantasy. The only person who could shed light on the kid's behavior, the mom, was the first one killed.

Again, I'm not saying I believe this is what happened. And sincerely I hope to God it isn't true, because if it is.... I don't even want to think about it. But it's not impossible to believe.

The one thing I do know is that none of us was there at the time. We know what we know because of what we've seen on TV and read in papers and seen on the internet. And it's not like the government or the media always tells the truth, or never has hidden (or not so hidden) agendas. And I sure as **** don't buy into Obama's fake tears one goddamn bit.